“Gran!” he screamed, rushing toward the burning building with no thought for his own safety.
Suddenly the big, black body of a horse blocked his path, and he looked up into the cold eyes of a raider, come to enslave Kai’s people and steal anything of value.
Kai turned and ran in the other direction, his small stature making him surprisingly agile. “Get him!” the raider yelled. Another horse reared before him, hooves flailing just inches from his face. He turned again but they had him corralled, urging him toward the center of the village. All around him people screamed, the men cut down as they defended their families, the women herded like cattle toward the tavern. Apparently, his size had them fooled; they thought him a mere lad. It wouldn’t save his life once the truth was known, but it might buy him some time.
Suddenly, he spotted an opening and he took off running toward the central barn. There were hay forks and scythes there; surely he could find some form of weapon to join the fight. Once inside, however, he saw the empty racks where the tools had once stood and remembered that it was harvest, they were all in the field.
Casting frightened eyes toward the hastily barred door, even now splintering under the raiders’ assault, he clumsily climbed the ladder to the loft, slipping and falling once in his haste.
Frantically seeking something useful with which to defend himself, he heard the words that froze his blood, “Burn it! He’ll come out or he’ll die, makes no difference to me. He’s too puny to bring much of a price.”
With horrified eyes, he watched the flash of a flaming arrow streaking through the open shutters of the loft. The new hay had yet to be hauled, what occupied the barn was old and burst into flames instantly, effectively cutting off the only exits. He huddled as far as he could toward the back of the wooden structure, kicking the walls helplessly with bare feet. It was useless; the building was sturdily built, not that it would stop fire.
His tunic was still wet from a dip in the stream, and he hastily tore a piece loose to cover his mouth and nose. The fire roared beneath the loft, heating the boards upon which he sat. The smoke stung his eyes and lungs, and his body convulsed with hacking coughs. All he could see were flames. Tears trickling from his eyes, he realized that never again would he fish in the stream or share a quiet meal with his grandmother. He said a quick prayer that the smoke would take him before the flames did.
Resigned now, he removed the cloth from his mouth, closed his eyes, and prepared to take a deep breath of the acrid smoke, hoping for a relatively painless end before the fire reached him. Then, like a vision, a man’s head topped the loft, hair aflame, though the man seemed oblivious to the fire. The stranger stepped calmly from the ladder, naked save for the flames that danced around his body. Far from burning, however, the tendrils of red, blue, and gold caressed his skin like Kai’s grandmother would her pet cat. A hand extended, reaching for Kai.
“Come,” the stranger said. “Do not be afraid, the flames are my friends. They’ll not harm you if you’re with me.”
Though terrified, the man offered his only hope, so Kai placed his hand in the outstretched palm that was easily twice the size of his own. He didn’t remember walking through the fiery inferno, only that he was suddenly outside, lungs filling with fresh, cool air. Riderless horses stood grazing in the communal paddock, and the women, so recently imprisoned in the tavern, were tending the wounded. The children, apparently unhurt, were huddled together under the watchful eyes of a toothless old granny.
The bodies of the raiders were stacked like cord wood at the very edge of the village by a group of heavily muscled men, much like the one who’d rescued him. When the stranger led Kai to the tavern, the women averted their eyes respectfully from the man’s naked form. “Stay here,” he said. “I shall return.”
When Kai looked again, his rescuer was gone. Not knowing what else to do, he busied himself helping the women find the fallen villagers. Many had died, but the fortuitous arrival of the strange warriors saved many lives that day. Kai wondered about them, in particular the